by Prax Venter
Mark didn't have to look but just knew Ahnix's tail had started to twitch slightly. He felt it too. This man was hiding something.
About twenty minutes later Mark saw the thatched roofs of civilization. Lennit's village was a series of interconnected wooden buildings on stilts, suspended over a shallow bog. The place looked relatively clean despite being in the middle of a muddy swamp. It was still before noon and a pale light filtered through the thick clouds above, washing everything in sickly yellow.
Lennit stopped when they reached the broad wooden ramp the led into the village. Standing guard was a man holding a spear and wearing one of the same bird-like masks.
“He's a healer,” their guide said. “I'm taking him to Fenny”
Without waiting for a response, Lennit turned to Mark, “Come on, she's in pain. It's this way.”
The guard's head turned from Mark to each of his girls, not really sure what to do.
As Vale passed by, she smiled at the edgy guard and said, “Don't worry, we're here to help.”
They were led over several rope bridges that stretched across the murky water below, and the rotten garbage smell that permeated the swamp grew much stronger. Mark could feel Ahnix's agitation as she walked along behind him. Her senses were stronger than anyone's, she was not enjoying their time in the swamp. They passed other people who were all wearing the creepy, bird masks. They were like a mix between a gas-mask and a crow's face. Mark hoped these people were just odd and not luring them here for some blood sacrifice ritual.
Lennit continued onward until he walked directly into a large wooden hut. Mark followed him in, using his hand to move aside a bead curtain. He stepped into what was clearly someone's home.
“She's in there,” Lennit said, pointing through another bead curtain. He had an intense feverish look in his eyes that gave Mark pause.
“What's wrong with her?” Mark said, entering a dimly lit room.
He froze when he saw the unfortunate woman rasping for air, laying on the bed in front of him. She was covered in black, oozing sores all over her body and was wrapped up in bandages similar to Ahnix when he first met her, except with more blood and a horrible smell. Mark swallowed some bile back down his throat and took a step backward.
He heard Ahnix hiss softly behind him.
“It's the rotting plague,” Lennit said with a muffled voice, from outside the bedroom. Mark looked back through the beads and saw that he had replaced his beaked, leather mask. A flash of fear washed over Mark as he looked back down at the disease-ridden woman he was brought here to heal. He had assumed it was a broken leg or something along those lines, but the twisting chaos he felt from this hot pile of infected meat told him that he could temporally close her seeping wounds- but not cure her.
Mending flesh, knitting bone; this seemed like second nature to him now. Pushing out this black, rooted, invading poison- The floor seemed to drop from below him when he thought of Ahnix or Vale infected with this rotting plague.
He looked back at Ahnix standing among the brown beads hanging over the doorway, and a red, raving panic gripped him. He would not let this happen to her.
And then he felt the snap behind his eyes.
His ring flashed faintly, and a new ability unlocked within his perception. Mark could almost see it, like trying to see a candle in front of the sun. He focused on the concept of purifying the terrible sickness that he felt emanating from this woman, and an ethereal pocket of potential bloomed into realization.
Mark let out the breath he didn't even realize he was holding. The new skill felt like it could cleanse- no, purify his target.
He held up his ring to help him focus and channeled his new ability at Lennit's wife, Fenny.
She had been sleeping, but her eyes shot open, and her back arched slightly. A sphere of pure, pale-blue energy appeared at her head and slowly moved through her body, toward her feet.
Her eyes fluttered as pleasure took the place of nausea, and she began to moan in response.
This new ability required more concentration to keep active, and Mark almost faltered when Lennit pushed past Ahnix into the cramped room. Closing his eyes, Mark just let his new power take control. When it was over, he looked and saw the woman sitting up, staring at him. Open, bloody sores still covered her body, but he knew they would heal eventually.
He smiled a confident smile at her and held up his ring again. Why wait?
Golden sparks washed over her and closed her wounds. She rubbed her hands all over her body, moaning loudly, and Mark got the sense she just had a small orgasm.
“Lennit, who is this... wonderful, magical spirit?” she said, never taking her hungry eyes off of Mark.
She had long, stringy brown hair, sunken eyes, and a waif-like figure. It didn't seem like these people were doing too well out in the swamp.
Her husband pulled off his Mask and went to her side. “I knew it would work! I brought this healer to you, my love.” He ran his hands over her healed skin, but she continued to have a hard time pulling her attention from Mark.
Lennit sensed her distraction and switched his attention between his wife and the man who had instantly cured her, bringing her back from certain death. Mark got the sense that Fenny wasn't as committed to this relationship as Lennit.
The silence piled on, layer after layer before Lennit stood abruptly.
“Right. Let's let my precious Fenny rest now. I promised I'd take you with on our shipment run. Radder should be almost back with the sacks by now.”
Lennit put one of his gloved hands on Mark's elbow and started to lead him out of the room. Fenny sighed but remained in bed as her husband ushered the Collector and his Enthralled out of his house. When they were back outside, Lennit beckoned them to follow and scurried back the way they had come. This time a group of beak-masked people waited for Vale to cross one of the suspended bridges. There was enough room for them to get by but the collection of dangerous looking beast-women gave them pause.
“Lennit, slow down,” Mark said, stopping on the other side of the bridge. He watched the gloomy, masked villagers walk away from him as they went on with their day. “Is there anyone else in this village that has this plague?”
“No. Fenny got bit by a Scourge Bat in the mushroom caves.”
“Why does everyone wear these masks?” Mark asked, gesturing to the one in Lennit's hand.
The other man frowned. “It stinks around here. Can't you smell it?”
Ahnix snorted.
“Heh, yeah. It's really rancid around here,” the fabric-girl asked, wrinkling her small nose. “Why do you live here then?”
Lennit shrugged. “The Georath pay good coin for trapped bog gas. Probably tough it out for another few years, then Fenny'n I'll move on.” He looked down at the murky waters below and then sighed. “Come on. Radder'll be pissed at me if we fall behind schedule.”
“Yes. Let's get far away from this place.” Ahnix said, her eyes narrowed in displeasure.
Lennit led them back to the entrance ramp for their swamp village just as the other three men Mark had seen earlier came trudging up, their boots covered in mud. But what drew his eye were the tight, leather balloons bobbing above their heads, like inverted bunches of giant, brown grapes.
They were huge, about four feet across, and were attached to the men's backs by frayed twine.
The one who had pulled the knife earlier quickened his pace when he saw them coming to meet them out in the swamp. He pulled off his mask revealing another haggard human. A wiry, black beard covered most of his face, and his red-rimmed eyes focused on Mark as he approached.
“That was too fast. What happened?” the man asked, turning his attention to Lennit after he finished speaking.
“It's fine, Radder. My Fenny has been cured, just like I said would happen.”
Radder's face dramatically changed as he let out a deep breath.
Lennit continued, “I promised this healer we would take him to the Georath in exchange for heali
ng Fenny.”
“Okay- Okay, good. The more, the merrier. Junger's group reported revenant sightings at the Charberry way-point and had to turn around. If we make it through...” Radder's eyes lingered on the giant, and heavily armored, naga. “Anyway, this lot looks like they could hold their own.”
Lennit started quickly trudging west, out into the swamp, but looked over his shoulder when he got a few steps ahead of everyone.
“Come on, let's get paid, yeah?”
- 6 -
It took about an hour of walking to reach the third of five way-points on the path to meet the Georath. As they walked, Mark and Vale pelted the group of men with questions. They learned that the other two men with them were called Kanis and Shoont and that the four of them made up a team of gas trappers. They had laid claim to a handful of bog-gas vents throughout the swamp and spent their days switching filled leather sacks for empty ones. Once they had enough, they would bring the foul-smelling fumes to a place called Auxiliary Academy to the west. There, the mysterious Georath exchanged ten silver coins for a full sack of bog gas.
“We'll make in a year what those schlubs make in ten back at Teratorn,” Shoont said, muffled behind his mask.
“What do the Georath do with the gas?” Vale asked, undulating her body back and forth as they moved through the swamp.
“Who knows,” answered Radder. “They've got all kinds of secret infernal machines behind those walls.”
“I still think they use it for eternal life potions,” Lennit said.
“Movement,” Ahnix said, freezing in place. “Up ahead to the right, near the burnt down house.”
Everyone stopped and scanned the area.
“That's the old Charberry house,” Radder said, softly. “Revenant wisps are drawn to the place. We need to be very careful.”
Mark was sure his girls would be able to handle anything that came at them. He squinted his eyes and saw a blue-white, glowing shadow of a humanoid moving among the foundations of the ruined house.
Lennit took a step behind Vale and said, “They say the spirits haunt-”
His history lesson died on his lips as Roo launched a giant sewing needle at the apparition. The length of metal passed right through the creature and embedded itself into the crumbling brick hearth that was the only standing part of the house. The translucent figure turned its attention on the group, sensing them for the first time. The dim light radiating from its form increased in brightness, and it started moving directly towards them.
Ahnix teleported behind the spirit and brought a set of silvered claws down right through its back, but it just kept moving straight towards Roo. The attack was completely ineffective. The cat-girl seemed as surprised as everyone else.
Vale reached over her shoulder and pulled her giant metal slab of a shield off of her back and moved between the floating specter and the velvet-girl.
“I'm sorry!” Roo said. “I thought I could take it out quickly.”
Vale just held out the hand clutching her coiled whip and sang a pleasant melody that ended on a sour scream.
A red outline formed around the glowing revenant and it altered its course towards the giant naga. The villagers scattered, their leather balloons bouncing against each other with taut thuds as they ran.
When the entity reached Vale, she tried to shield bash it, but her shield just whiffed right through its body.
And then it was on her. It sunk its ethereal appendages into her stomach, right past Vale's Star Scale Mail like it wasn't there, and she began to scream. Mark activated his protective bubble around her, and the glowing specter was forced back, outside its protective edge. The giant naga collapsed. She dropped her shield and used her free hand to hold herself up.
“Magic...” she wheezed at the ground.
Mark tried to hold the bubble up and process what was going on. This thing seemed to be immune to physical attacks. Was she trying to say it was weak to magic? What magic did they have?
He shook his head and grabbed his crossbow. It seemed impossible to keep up the shield and shoot at the same time, so he moved as fast as he could while still lining up the shot.
The creature stuck one amorphous appendage down into Vale's chest before Mark launched a high-speed ball of explosive energy at the revenant.
Vale's hand went limp, and she fell to the ground, face down, as the magic crossbow bolt obliterated her attacker. The undead spirit let out a content sigh and floated up towards the sky while fading away to nothing.
Roo was the first one to reach Vale, tears rolling over her porcelain mask. The velvet-girl was weeping as she tried to roll the heavily armored, giant naga over, her boots slipping in the mud. Ahnix and Mark quickly joined in, and together they were able to roll Vale onto her back.
Mark held out his ring and targeted a heal into her internal organs. It was like she was both burned and frostbitten on the inside. He slowed down, getting the sense that gradual heal would be more effective instead of an instant dump of all his power. He carefully and gently brought all of her damaged bits back to working order.
Roo just had her soft hands on her face as she watched. When Vale's violet eyes fluttered open, Roo threw her arms around the prone naga. Her fabric body was wracked with intense sobs as she buried her face under Vale's chin.
Vale blinked and looked down at Roo. The giant naga wrapped one of her arms around the velvet-girl and held her close.
“I'm okay, Roo. It's okay.”
Roo sat up and whipped her face on her soft, fabric arm and nodded. She got off of Vale and backed up a few steps to give the armored naga room to get up from the wet grass.
“Figures,” Ahnix said, slapping her hand against the firm, dark scales over Vale's curved ass. “The first thing we fight passes right through this legendary set of armor.”
Vale looked down at the black and gold cat-girl with a sigh.
“The stories say the Star Scale Mail is almost indestructible against physical attacks, but some forms magic are still a problem.”
Mark caught a glimpse of movement as the group of gas trappers tentatively emerged from behind a large, gnarled tree. They looked like a group of surreal children holding clumps of brown balloons, the glass windowed eyes of their beaked masks reflecting the bright, yellow sky above.
Radder was the first to take off his mask again.
“Fucking Allfather, you people are insane... but competent. Now let's get moving before more emerge.”
As the group moved onward through the swamp, Mark felt an uncharacteristic despondence radiating from the normally cheerful Roo. The more time he spent with an Enthralled, the more emphatic their bond seemed to grow. She was looking at the muddy ground as she followed at the back of the group, and Mark slowed his pace until he to matched hers.
He reached over and slid his fingers through her soft fabric ones. Her pure-black eyes focused on him, and he was hit with an intense feeling of anxiety. He slowed his pace again, forcing them both to fall back a little from the rest of the group.
Ahnix looked back over her shoulder with her disinterested frown, perceiving the change in formation. One look from him conveyed the need for some private time, and she gave him a short nod before continuing to scan the area for threats.
“Talk to me, Roo,” Mark said in a soft voice.
She bit her puffy, lower lip and looked back down at her feet.
“I... I came into existence that day you found me, full of knowledge and desires, but no real memories. I had no past. And now, after all the time we have spent together... You three are all I have- All I am.” He felt her velvet fingers tighten around his. “It all just kind of hit me, back there- when I almost got Vale killed.”
Tears welled up in her black eyes and rolled off the hard mask covering her cheeks to be absorbed into her soft, round mounds of velvet cleavage.
Mark bent his elbow upwards and kissed the back of her silky hand.
“Sure. It was a rash move, but it would have been badass if you
took that thing down in one shot.” He gave her an encouraging smile. She pressed her lips into a tight line and nodded. She wasn't entirely buying the optimism.
“Look,” Mark said, pointing to Vale's swaying backside. “She's fine, and the four of us are going to make many, many memories together. I am really looking forward to that trophy room you were talking about, before. It will be a great place to showcase the life- our lives, that we build together.”
He sensed a change in her mood like smoke clearing through an open window. He could feel that she was looking forward again, instead of stuck looking backward. He sensed their bond grow even stronger, and the urge to fill her days with happy memories overwhelmed him.
She let go of his hand and wrapped herself tightly around his arm, pressing the side of her firm body against it as they walked a bit behind the group.
“I love you, Mark. You're the greatest thing ever.”
“I love you too, Roo.”
They walked in silence for a few steps before he felt a sudden flash of lust from the fabric-girl clamped to his side. He had to admit, her figure was divine, and he was looking forward to playing with her again soon.
A dirty desire grew in his mind as he scanned the men walking ahead of them. Surely no one would notice if...
He gently removed his arm from her clinging embrace and grabbed her right hand with his left, pulling it across his stomach. She looked over at him, confused, as his other hand snaked around behind her back. He waited a bit until he was sure no one could see before sliding the hand that was behind her down to her leather skirt.
A few steps later, Mark moved his hand up under her skirt and cupped one of her firm ass cheeks as she walked. It was so round and smooth under his fingers it was like holding a cantaloupe, tightly wrapped in velvet.
He slid his hand down to the gap between her thighs and slowly ran a finger through her silky lips. Roo inhaled sharply when she realized his intentions. The rest of the group was far enough ahead and probably wouldn't notice, but Mark had a feeling Ahnix was already aware of what was happening back there.
